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How to deal with negative online reviews

At a quick glance, it looked like mostly good reviews. Then I came across this one from the owner, Justin Taft.

“HI Yelpers…If you’re going to write a bad review…please please please cal us or talk to us before you write it…it helps us out so much with fixing the problem.” – Justin T.

I scrolled down and did see a few negative reviews in the mix giving the restaurant two and three stars.

I commend Taft for addressing these negative comments upfront and asking his customers to contact him directly with any constructive feedback.

And here’s another idea: If restaurants brought back the old school “paper feedback form” that used to come at the end of the meal, with the receipt, they’d significantly decrease any chance of nasty online reviews.

Make it easy for your customers to communicate with you in a private way, especially if there’s a chance their feedback might be negative.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..